To stave off responsibility for caring for poor women and their children, unwed mothers were regularly brought before justices of the peace to answer sharp questions about their circumstances.

On 28 April 1875, Ettie Baker admitted to Wilson County justice of the peace T.J. Meacham that she had given birth to a child whose father was John Smith. Meacham ordered that Smith be arrested and taken to a justice to answer Baker’s charge.

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• Ettie Baker

Probably, in the 1870 census of Oldfields township, Wilson County: farm laborer Ephraim Baker, 51; wife Margarett, 45; Bitha, 17, and Pricilla Baker, 15; Elias Williamson, 18; and Etta, 12, Pinah, 10, Louisana, 7, Needham, 5, Margarett, 3, and Benjamin, 2 months.

• John Smith

Bastardy Bonds, 1866, Miscellaneous Records, Wilson County Records, North Carolina State Archives.